SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 10, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RootsTech, the world's largest family history and technology conference, is now accepting entries for the 2016 Innovator Showdown—a "Global Innovation Competition" for developers and entrepreneurs seeking an opportunity to impact the growing family history industry while competing for $100,000 in rewards. Innovator Showdown seeks to support, foster, and inspire innovation within the family history marketplace. The deadline for submitting to the 2016 Innovator Showdown is December 1, 2015. The winners will be announced at RootsTech 2016 on Friday, February 5 (Go to RootsTech.devpost.com for more information).
In the premiere 2015 event, 70 talented and hopeful innovators vied for $25,000 in prizes. The success and excitement of last year's competition has generated tremendous industry support and significantly increased the rewards. The 2016 Showdown on February 5, 2016, will offer total prizes of $100,000, making it one of the top innovator contests in the nation.
Showdown Calendar:
Submissions will be accepted from September 1 to December 1, 2015.
Sixteen finalists will be notified on December 16, 2015.
The Final Round will be on February 5 during RootsTech 2016 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
David Pugmire, the Director of the RootsTech Innovator Showdown, said, "I am really pleased to see the evolution of what this challenge has become today. We find "tech" in the very name of RootsTech, and the RootsTech Innovator Showdown is the biggest realization of the union between tech and family history, bringing the technologists and their cutting edge creations in front of worldwide attendees in a meaningful and exciting way."
At the finals, in front of a huge audience of family history consumers, five industry judges, including genealogy, technology and business gurus, will hear the finalists make their pitches, then field questions before making their decisions. Once again, along with Judges' Choice cash prizes of $20,000 for 1st Place, $14,000 for 2nd Place, and $6,000 for 3rd Place, the crowd will have the opportunity to cast their votes online and on their mobile phones for an impressive $10,000 People's Choice Award. Additionally, $50,000 of highly sought after "in-kind" prizes will be awarded.
The 2015 Showdown winners represented a variety of family history categories from around the world:
1st Place winner, StoryWorth, is a robust story recording service based in San Francisco.
2nd Place winner, ArgusSearch, out of Germany, is an award winning handwriting recognition technology that can make transcribing handwritten records exponentially faster.
3rd Place winner, Utah based GenMarketplace, makes getting professional help affordable in an e-market where family history professionals can bid on low cost consumer job postings online.
Entries for the 2016 Innovator Showdown can be made through http://rootstech.devpost.com/ and must include a video. Any platform is welcome, but projects must have a social or collaborative component.
About RootsTech
RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, is a global conference celebrating families across generations, where people of all ages are inspired to discover and share their memories and connections. This annual event has become the largest of its kind in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants worldwide.
© 2015 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. A service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
IP 2015-2347199-I
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